Chapter 13: The Auntie Bird

When Jing Huang reawoke, she only felt that it was dark outside. She propped up her body and held her forehead. "I'll go, why are all the lights out?" She was lying inside a tatami room with a quilt covering her body, while not far in front of herself was a screen with the same ukiyo-e painted on it. "What time is it? I'm hungry." Beishan Jinghuang remembered that after she and her sister-in-law talked for a while, her sister-in-law went to look for her brother. And she was bored alone inside her room playing games. But she was tired after playing, so she started playing the game. As she played, she also fell asleep. She looked at her cell phone, it was already six thirty. The time for the dinner to start was at seven o'clock. She stood up, walked behind the screen, and pulled open the sliding door to the chamber, while it was silent outside. "Anyone?" After a long time, a maid in a black kimono stepped out. Inside the Ancestral House Shrine, almost everyone wore kimono in clean color, and at this moment, Jing Huang was no exception. "Miss Jing Huang, you're awake?" "Uh-huh." Jing Huang still felt a little groggy in the head right now, while saying, "Well, I want to go wash my face, help me get a cleaner towel." "Okay, Miss Jing Huang." "Also, turn on the lights. The Kitayama Family doesn't lack electricity bills, and as far as I know, you even have an independent power supply system in this Moro Town, so even if the entire town has a blackout the lights will still be on here, right?" "Yes …… Miss." Kitayama Jinghuang very much detested darkness. This was especially true within this family's ancestral home. With the lights being turned back on, she was finally relieved. Walking inside the restroom, she quickly put water inside the basin. She made sure that the maid fetched fresh, unused towels before placing them inside the hot water while looking up at herself inside the mirror. She was disgusted with herself for finally compromising and coming here. If it was possible, she never wanted to come here in her life. This place that no longer had Aunt Yukie in it, there was really nothing worth staying for Jing Huang. The memories left behind by this place for her were now all related to pain. Just at this moment, the maid outside suddenly vocalized, ''Miss Jing Huang. That …… seems to be something going on outside, and Lord Zenith has ordered us, as soon as possible, to head to the Loxinwomen's Pavilion." Inside this Ancestral House Shrine, there was a pavilion for each of the east, west, south, north, and the center. The Zashiki Kid's Hall in the center of the shrine, the Sakutani Kid's Hall in the east, the Wheel-in Dojo Hall in the west, the Loxinwomen's Hall in the south, and …… the Gushu Tori Hall in the north. The Gushu Tori Hall is a place where only the two of them, the Kitayama family's head witch and the head of the family, are allowed to go in and out. To everyone else, it was an absolute forbidden place. Once an underling within the family dared to violate it, they would be handed over by the family's people to the yakuza who had business dealings with the family to be dealt with. As we all know, Japan is an odd country where yakuza legally exist. Being handed over to them, one would either die or live a life worse than death. Only, although the rules were so established, in most cases, it would not go as far as punishment at all. Because …… apart from the head of the family and the witch, the people who went in, there has never been anyone who came out alive. And Himura Kara, who was now temporarily serving as a witch, should also not be allowed to go in. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for the untimely death of Aunt Koue, she wouldn't have been able to take on the role of witch at all. There seemed to be no such precedent in the family in the past, and it was only after her grandfather had argued against it that she was allowed to take the position of temporary witch. She picked up a towel and covered her face, scrubbing it carefully before putting it down again and opening her eyes when …… "Huh?" She was surprised to find that the entire restroom, actually went dark! "What's going on?" She was most tired of the darkness, and the light switch was only inside the restroom, could it be a power outage? She immediately walked up and pressed the switch, but it was bright. "This?" She felt incredible. The family had purchased a large piece of land in the area and set up their own independent power supply system, tripping the switch and blowing a fuse was something that was almost impossible to happen. She immediately pushed open the door and looked at the kimono-clad maid outside. "You …… weren't the one who turned off the lights just now, were you?" The maid hurriedly shook her head, revealing a very intimidated look, "Miss Jing Huang, how could that be! You said that you're most afraid of the dark." "What the hell is going on here?" At this moment, Jing Huang felt a chill. Those bad memories from her early childhood resurfaced in her mind. "I think you just said to me that something happened outside?" "I'm not too sure about the specifics, but the situation outside seems to be very tense. Miss Jing Huang, let's quickly go." Jing Huang felt even more uneasy, what exactly was going on? Why did it also happen to be the time she came here? "Also, please bring an umbrella, it's raining heavily outside right now." "It's raining?" The soundproofing inside this room was also very impressive, and she didn't hear the rain at all. Walking out of this room, it was indeed pouring rain outside. "It doesn't match the weather forecast… It was said before that it would be sunny for the past few days in the Tokyo metropolitan area." Then she sensed something was wrong. "You're the only one who took me to the Loxian Pavilion?" Jing Huang looked at the maid who was holding an umbrella for her on the side. Inside this Ancestral House Shrine, the number of maids was at least around nearly a hundred, and for a young lady like her, who was seen as the future successor to the position of a witch, it was normal for her to follow three or five maids around her, but now there was only one maid who was taking her to the Loxinwomen's Pavilion? Could it be that something really serious had happened? "What's going on here? I didn't meet any other maids other than you when I came out of the house just now." Jing Huang's sense of unease grew stronger and stronger, and she couldn't help but ask, "What exactly are these people?" "Well, as far as I know, about half of them, went outside to the Sea of Lost Trees." "What?" Jing Huang was very clear that only people with the Beishan family's bloodline could travel through the Sea of Lost Trees without that lantern, and even then, uncle still almost got lost in the Sea of Trees even when he drove the car. Ordinary servants, usually without special circumstances, would not leave the shrine, which was originally surrounded on all sides by that sea of trees. "I, I don't know, but there must be something going on over there in the Sea of Trees. Miss, specifically, you should go and ask Lady Garo or Lord Zhen Xin." Beishan Jinghuang felt that this maid looked like she was on the verge of tears, what was going on here? Walking in the heavy rain, she felt more and more uneasy. Even if it was raining heavily, it shouldn't have become so cold inside the shrine. What's more, tomorrow was her brother's wedding, and there should already be some several important relatives from the Hokkaido side here. This shrine is really too big, coupled with the rain is too big so walk slowly, walk for a long time, before arriving in front of the Lo Shinken Hall. And looking at the front of the Lo Shin Woman Hall, entangled with more notes connected to the rope. This makes the north mountain JingHuang slightly frown. Walking inside the house, just after stepping into the entrance hall, she saw dozens of umbrellas piled up at the door. It was not often that so many people would gather at the Loxian Pavilion. Just then, she suddenly subconsciously looked back. In the opposite direction from this Roshinkan, that is, the Gushikan, which was located in the north. There, it was also the biggest forbidden place of this shrine. She had a hunch that it was most likely related to there. Guided by the maid, she walked slowly while noticing water stains and footprints all over the floor. In a society like Japan, which valued tidiness to an almost obsessive-compulsive degree, it was hard to believe that so many people in the shrine had left tons of water stains and footprints on the floor. What the hell had gone wrong here? Walking slowly along the quaint, narrow corridors to the front. Most of the buildings of this shrine were very retro, close to the Edo period. However, this Loxian Hall, was built after the Black Ship opened the gates of Japan back then, so it was closer to the architectural style of Europe and the United States, so it was often used to receive commissioned guests from Europe and the United States. And walking along the corridors, one also sees some photos of the family's forefathers from time to time. However, the photos jumped straight to the Tokyo Olympics of Showa 39 after the Taisho period. Jing Huang remembered that Aunt Yukie was born in that year. When she was young, Aunt Yukie often told herself about the year she was born. On the photo, it was the young grandfather and grandmother, holding Aunt Yukie, who had just been born at that time, with Tokyo Tower behind them. At that time, the family had invested in the Olympics, which became an opportunity for the family to re-emerge after the war. Not only that, at that time, the whole of Japan benefited from this lost and found Olympics (Japan was originally awarded the right to host the 1940 Olympics, but it was canceled because of the war) also step by step began to embark on the path of economic takeoff, and has been hosting the Summer Olympics for the second time until now. And between the end of the Taisho period and the thirty-ninth year of the Showa period, it was a period of erased history for the Kitayama family, and it is surprising that not a single photograph can be found from this period. The only thing that could be known was that the Gushikan was built during this blank period. The only thing she knew was that the …… family had gotten something during that blank period. Something" that allowed them to take on the commission of de-spiritualization. ……